Kea took the challenge of ‘thinking’ very seriously. The whole thing was Zephs idea, but his feathered brother seemed to have taken him under ‘wing’ for training. If Zeph thought this was important, he would do it. He would do it with everything he had! …what was he doing again?

He glanced up at the towering feathered wolf beside him as they entered the spooky woods. Already there was a mist rising off the forest floor, and he found himself stepping close enough to his brother that there was a risk of tangled limbs. “So…. Death. Where do people go when they die, Zeph?”



"Speech"

Zephyr was trying to dip his toes into every tidbit of wolf culture he could find, and if the weird familiars running this festival suggested going for a walk to contemplate life and death and autumn then Zephyr was going to do it to the best of his bird ability. Walks weren't exactly his forte, but that's why he'd invited one of the puppies to tag along. It would prevent him from getting bored or anxious and taking flight, rushing through the experience.

Kea's question brought the bird pause, alarm bells ringing in his head. This was not a question for a brother to answer! With one wing he scratched the side of his head, considering his words. "I don't really know, do wolves go to the same place as birds, you think?" He asked after a bit. "My mama owl told me birds go back to the sky, to become constellations at night." It did not thrill him to think of potentially going somewhere other then where his wolf family would go, but one could hope by then he had learned enough of the wolf way that whatever God led their spirits off the mortal plane would let him come along.

The forest was spooky, to say the least, and the more Zephyr let himself think about life and a possible afterlife, the more chills he felt crawl up his spine. The way the gnarled trees' branches fell and curved, blocking off paths and opening up further, darker ones made almost a maze of wood to explore. If only Zeph did not feel so bound to the ground, if the tales were true and there were ghosts in this wood then he could not fly up to avoid them without feeding Kea to them instead.

"We don't have to talk about death like, death though, you know." The raptor told his brother. "We're supposed to be thinking about the death of like, the year, I think." Zephyr himself had only one year under his belt so far and Kea much less - maybe they would have been better off with an aged wolf to help to explain things. "Autumn brings leaves falling off trees, grass dying, herbs wilting, pretty much everything alive in nature that's not an animal starts to go away when the colors turn. Then the cold wet snow comes, and when it melts stuff starts to regrow and come back." His wing swept up to gesture to the forest around them, where the leaves had long begun to fall and the ground was littered in orange, yellow and red. "Do you think that might mean we come back too, when we die?"

"Zephyr"

Kea snorted at that. “If so, I bet you go the place where wolves go. Why would they tear you away from us?” his voice rising a little at the end, angry at the thought. Zeph was their brother, after all. If anyone ever tried to tell him otherwise, he’d probably punch them. Why were they supposed to be thinking about life and death, anyhow? He wondered at the origin of this tradition they had all been plunged into. As far as he knew, this was a normal yearly occurrence, despite the confusion on some wolves' faces.

Zephs explanation made as good a sense as any - not the death of them but the death of the season. “That sounds awful, is there no colour in winter, Zeph?” The very young wolf asked. Zeph wasn’t making winter sound very fun. “Do you lose your colour in winter, too?” he wanted to know next. Zeph had all those colourful feathers, would they drop off in winter? “If I come back, do you think I could come back as a bird, like you?”


"Speech"

The two boys continued their walk, weaving through wraith's woods with caution and curiosity. Zephyr's head remained on an easy swivel, his acute eyes piercing through the mists and keeping a careful watch for any potential danger. Though the familiars had stated that this walk was a peaceful one, one could never be too certain. He stepped over a large exposed root and with his talon, helped the puppy over it as well. "I hope I go to the place wolves go." Zephyr agreed. "Dad made me an official Carpathius, so if Carpathius' go somewhere special then I bet I go there." It was a good thing the bird had no concept of his own life span, or how he would likely outlive ten generations of his canine family.

To Kea's statement on how awful winter sounded, Zeph gave a solumn nod. "It is awful, I hate it. It's too cold and the snow is wet and squishy. There is a bit of color where the land peaks through the white, but it's still pretty bland." He had only a few weeks of experience of winter before the autumn bubble enclosed the castle walls, but outside the magical phenomenon winter was still well underway. "I don't think I do, or I should have already I think. We had winter for a few days when you were born, and then you guys brought the autumn. I think if I was going to lose feathers I would have already." Though how could Zephyr know for sure, when this was his first winter season as a fully fledged bird? He shrugged, continuing through the spooky woods as Kea continued. "Maybe you could come back as a bird. I would want to come back as a wolf."

"Zephyr"

He leaned on Zeph as he climbed over the large root. It was instinctive now to trust the feathered wolf beside him. Zeph was family, and nothing in Kea’s head would ever indicate otherwise. “How long is winter, again?” he asked his brother, Zeph’s dislike for winter bleeding into the pup's perception of it.

”You would look pretty funny without your feathers” Kea agreed with a soft giggle, but if Zeph didn’t think he’d lose them, he was probably right. “We brought the autumn?” catching on to what Zeph said. He wrinkled his nose, surely Zeph didn’t think that did he? He wasn’t sure why Zeph would want to be a wolf. He was already basically a wolf, with all the benefits of both worlds. Zeph could fly


"Speech"